Homecoming

One of the annual events observed by the church of the past which is mostly forgotten these days is what was called Homecoming.  Quite often Homecoming was followed by a week of revival services, but it was an event which was strong enough to stand on its own legs.  Of course, it took place on Sunday morning and a former pastor was invited to come preach the Homecoming sermon.  But, more than just a former pastor returned as it was a time for those who had been a part of the church in the past to come home once again. 

 

Homecoming was about an overflowing crowd for worship and a covered dish meal lunch that covered several tables.  All the cooks brought the dishes for which they were best known.  The cakes and pies were homemade instead of those pulled out of a box.  And after everyone had their fill, there was often a gospel quartet group which started up and folks filed back in the sanctuary for an afternoon of toe tapping music which featured a lot of songs about the heavenly homecoming.  Homecoming was a moment of remembering those who were buried in the church cemetery and celebrating the joy of belonging to a community with a rich heritage and a great hope for the future.

 

It is unfortunate that the Homecoming event is no longer on most church calendars.  Most likely, it was bound to be buried when folks started moving from where their families had always lived and worked and died.  When movement is so characteristic of a culture, roots are lost, identities are established more by trends than tradition, and churches tend to be less homogenous.  What  Homecoming celebrated was membership in a spiritual community which provided nurture from the birth to the grave.  And, it also was a clear reminder that the veil between the spiritual community on earth and the spiritual community in heaven was very thin.  It was indeed a foretaste of the heavenly Homecoming still to come.